The European Council, the EU's main decision-making body, made up of the leaders of the 27 member states, is due to appoint its first president at a special summit in Brussels tomorrow night. The post has been created by the Treaty of Lisbon, which streamlines the EU's workings and takes effect on 1 December after being ratified by all 27 countries.

Simon Mann, the Eton-educated former SAS troop leader who organised a coup against the president of the oil-rich African state of Equatorial Guinea, arrived back in Britain yesterday after receiving a pardon.